Within hours, he had created a multi-agency task force to investigate both safety and wage issues in New York's salons. As of last month, it had issued 1,799 violations after inspecting 755 salons -- roughly 22 percent of the 3,300 nail salons in New York. He also signed a law providing greater protection for workers.

New Jersey, meanwhile, has just started to sputter into action. We know this exploitation is going on on our side of the Hudson, too, where a $30 mani-pedi is just as suspiciously cheap. Advocates sued a chain of New Jersey salons in 2009, saying their workers were being paid slave wages. And it's not unusual for women with no gloves and no more protection than a dust mask to handle chemicals that could contribute to lung disease or cancer, and cause miscarriages.

Since the Times expose ran, New Jersey's Department of Labor and Workforce Development says it has conducted 169 initial visits and 131 inspections, and issued 255 violations. This means about 20 percent of New Jersey's 1,500 nail salons have at least been visited, and 9 percent inspected -- a significantly smaller percentage than in New York, but still a promising start.

Legislators on both side of the aisle have also introduced bills that could help. A Senate bill sponsored by two Republicans, Diane Allen (R-Burlington) and Tom Kean Jr., (R-Union), focuses primarily on health standards. It would require the state Board of Cosmetology and Hairstyling, under the Department of Law and Public Safety, to do random inspections of the state's nail salons to enforce safety standards.

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It replicates some of Cuomo's protections: Salons would also have to provide gloves, face masks and goggles for workers and install effective ventilation systems. Each must post a highly visible sign, in multiple languages, listing labor rights and state wage and hour laws and providing a contact number for abuse claims.

A second bill sponsored by a Democratic Assemblyman from Hudson County, Raj Mukherji, includes all the same safety and signage rules, along with additional provisions aimed at fighting wage violations. It would require nail salon owners to be insured to cover unpaid wages, and allow exploited workers who sue to be eligible not only for unpaid wages, but also further damages. And it would fine employers who fire workers for filing wage complaints.

Mukherji says his bill mirrors the protections in the New York that weren't already in New Jersey law, and is meant to be all-encompassing. "To the extent that it's not, when it goes through the committee process, I'll amend it," he said. "Exploitation of any worker has no place in our state."

Both bills are constructive efforts that will be vetted in hearings. The standard should be that any reform must address both health and wage violations. We want our oversight to be no less vigilant than New York's.